Skylah and Raquel are the eldest of four very impressive, young environmental scientists. The four sisters each follow their own paths within the discipline and are either graduates or current students of New Bedford High School. Skylah and Raquel shared with the Envision Resilience team their reflections on growing up in the famous port city and their goals for the future.

Rodney Avila has been a fisherman out of New Bedford, Massachusetts for five decades. After making his livelihood at sea, Rodney has had a hard time sticking to retired life and now serves as a liaison between families in the fishing industry for Ørsted and New Bedford’s burgeoning offshore wind industry.

Six university partners—including two from the University of Massachusetts system—have been selected for the third iteration of the Envision Resilience Challenge taking place in New Bedford and Fairhaven, Massachusetts, this fall as students develop innovative solutions for coastal communities to adapt to sea level rise.

The Envision Resilience Challenge, a semester-long design studio connecting interdisciplinary university teams with coastal communities to inspire adaptive and creative solutions to the challenges of sea level rise and climate change, will take place in New Bedford and Fairhaven, Massachusetts in the fall of 2023.